Answers

Wild persimmons vary in eating qualities. Some are very good and
others never get rid of all their pucker power even late in the
season. Can make preserves, eat them fresh, or dry them. Need to
wait until they are ripe or they are very puckery. You'll get told
they need frost or freeze, but not true, they just fully ripen about
that time of year. Had warm winter last year and no frost until into
November. Persimmons were fine at that time without the frost. Frost
or freezing doesnt hurt them think due to high sugar content and low
water content when they are ripe. When dried they have some of the
qualities of a dried fig and can be used in same ways. They do have
several big seeds which have to be removed before doing any
processing.

Somewhere around here I have a recipe for persimmon beer that was
popular during the colonial times. I've never managed to have enough
persimmons at one time to make it thought--they all get eaten fresh
too soon.

Are these the small persimmons? Persimmon pudding is the thing to do
with persimmons. You can also make cookies. Persimmons are usually
better after a frost and yoou pick off the ground from Nov. on in SE
Indinan. After you pick them, was and put through a Foley Food Mill
or something similar. Freeze in 1c. portions. You can lay them out
on waxed aper on a cookie sheet the put them in plastic bags after
they're frozen. I dried some of the pulp this way last year, haven't
used it yet. I'll post the recipe for persimmon pudding afterwhile
and for cookies. The pulp sold frozen or canned at farm markets etc.
but it's quite expensive.

Ruth--this has nothing to do with what to do with persimmons--but
reminded me of a memory. When I was young growing up--my Dad drove a
cattle truck/ was one of his many jobs & talents. I use to go with
him when I could in the summer months/ up until school started/ & on
weekends. We were going down the road one beautiful fall day & my Dad
spotted a persimmon tree loaded with persimmons.(he loved persimmons)
He stopped that truck/ & we walked to the nearest farm house for
permission to pick some of their persimmons/ no one was home---so Dad
left them a note & told them who he was & he was going to pick a
small tote full of persimmons & if he owed them anything to send him
a note & he would gladly pay them / or if they were ever in his neck
of the woods to give him a hollar & he would buy them a meal. Well
the guy who owned the tree--stopped when he was in Dad's neck of the
woods & they developed a friendship that lasted well over 40 years!
Over a sack of persimmons. Just had to share that with you. Dad died
of cancer 9 years ago & thanks for the memory of Dad again this
morning--not a day goes by that I don't think of him--the persimmoms
reminded me of a great memory! Thank you--- I hope someone stops &
leaves you a note/ takes a tote of persimmons & that grows into a 40
year friendship! Sonda in Ks.

Thanks for sharing the beautiful memory Sondra. My great-grandmother
loved persimmons also. When I was a child in WV I spent a lot of time
with her and each autumn she and I would regularly check the
persimmion trees until they were "just right" for picking. She walked
with a cane and didn't get around real well but always wanted to
inspect them herself. She would hobble to the tree and back about
once a week until she judged them just right for picking then I would
pick them for her. We ate them as they were and she made pudding and
sort of bread with them, much like banana or zucchini bread.

You can also use the persimmon seeds to forcast the coming winter weather. Let the seeds dry for a day or two after you take them out of the pulp. Carefully squeeze the sides with pliers 'til they pop open. Look carefully at the white thing inside (cotyledon?). If you see a spoon shape, the winter will be very snowy. If you see a knife shape, the winter will be bitter cold. If you see a fork shape, the winter will be fair. If you see a whole bunch of poop with persimmon seeds in it under your tree, you have possums! (Not weather related....or is there any weather lore related to possums?!)

I found out as a kid, you can chunk em at the neighborhood girls with your wristrocket slingshot. Just watch out for the girl that launches it back, she'll think its a mating dance and you'll be 'going steady".

Jay, I was one of those girls, who threw them at the new neighbor
who was a "city slicker"! We also talked him into tasting the green
ones!! Told him, they were the greatest and he would love them! We
became great friends and he did forgive us!!!

Gosh Cindy! Wish I new of a place in Central Indiana that have
persimmons. My grandmother had a tree in Kentucky when I was a
little girl and I used to love them. So far I havent seen any trees
here in Central Indiana.

Denise, if you and yours want to take a day trip down to Seymour,
persimmons are available for the picking up. I've "cultivated"
several folks w/ persimmon trees. After the first bunch fall,
enthusiasm also falls and then folks are glad to get rid of them. One
fella has 6-8 trees. He doesn't use any of them. John

This is a little off topic but with so many persimmon afficionados
contributing maybe I'll get lucky.

I've been tromping around cemeteries in KY this summer and noticed
that many/most of them have at least a couple of persimmon trees. I
seem to recall (or am imagining) that there is some Biblical
reference to persimmons. Am I imagining this? Does anyone know
whether there is some such reason why persimmons happen to be planted
in so many cemeteries? Or is this just a coincidence. Perhaps
there's a website that has this type of tree lore. I'm looking for
it, that's how I ended up here. Thanks

Todd: I can't answer your question but I do have a story... Shortly
after I started working at Warrenton Missouri as a forester, I
stopped by the Daniel Boone Cemetery with one of the fellows who
worked for me. He said the legend was that Boone himself planted the
Persimmons growing there from seeds from Kentucky and that they
weren't puckery. Dumb me had to test the no-pucker legend and found
it to be quite false!! BTW I've also noticed that Eastern redcedar
is common in cemeteries.